The Blog
I act like I’m a veteran.. Like I have been blogging for years and I know exactly what I’m doing. Wrong. I don’t & I have only been blogging consistently since March. Flighty blogging? Since 2011 (Wow.. Has it really been that long?)
Anyway, during my little consistently blogging every Monday & Friday stint I have figured out a few tricks to help me stay on top of it.. Realistically I just wanted to share these tips so that I could have another blog post completed.
Need. To. Brainstorm. Ideas.
So without further ado here are 11 tips that may help you consistently blog!
- Write whatever you want. Your blog is your little slice of creativity heaven. Feel free to explore whatever you want to write about. It is probably frowned upon to talk about your downfalls in your business but I believe it’s sharing apart of who you are. Letting your readers into your life to connect.
- Blog ahead. I used to not like blogging ahead as it felt like my articles were forced and not sincere. However, having articles sit as drafts only makes sure that I don’t miss a publishing date.
- Work on them in short bursts. I very rarely sit down and write a complete blog post. My drafts are worked on/edited for a little over a week at a time. This gives me plenty of time to re-word, fix really bad grammatical errors (I type how I talk.. Not correct), and make sure I have all my thoughts out I want to share. Case and point this one has been worked on for 2 months.
- Work on graphics at a separate time. When I write a blog post I have phrases throughout the post of what graphics I want where or what images. Example: In this post I have “[INSERT GRAPHIC WITH TOP 11 TIPS FOR BLOGGING]” in my draft where my actual graphic will sit when published.
- Put a publishing date in your post title. Since I blog ahead I have all these drafts that sit and pile up…I get confused (total blonde) on what posts are what and when I’m supposed to be publishing them. So in the title bar I enter the title and then (POSTING [DATE]). This gives me the opportunity at a quick glance to see when what posts are due.
- Add photos. As a blog stalker if posts don’t have images my likeliness to read plummets. I am a visual learner and I need eye candy. If I don’t have an image or graphic to share I will pull an image from Pinterest but remember to link to the original source.
- Keep it short. Similar to 6. If a blog post is too long before you have established me as a devoted reader I probably won’t read. You need to connect with your readers before they’ll commit to a 5 page post.
- Get to the point! Goes without saying but don’t ramble. I know I have to cut a lot out of my posts because my fingers get moving and I’m telling you what I had for dinner 2 weeks ago. Just, no.
- Change your permalink. If you have the ability to create a custom permalink than do it! Put key points in the URL instead of what it generates for you. This will bump the articles ranking if it contains key words that are often searched on the topic.
- Jot down ideas whenever you get them. I’m a spontaneous idea maker and some of my ideas come to me at the most bizarre times. Have your phone handy and just write down what is coming to mind.
Ding ding. Bonus round. Cue the confetti and balloons with corny game show music. Now if only I had one of those cute little microphones.
11. USE GOOGLE CALENDAR. Seriously, I just started doing this a little over a month ago and it has been a life saver. I post on Monday’s and Friday’s so I use the calendar to schedule what content I plan on publishing when. This has helped me out tremendously along with tip 5. They go hand in hand but it is seriously a time saver and helps me be more successful for posting.
So that’s them. Those are the 11 tips that I’m sharing with bloggers that maybe want to be more consistent or are simply starting in the blogging world! & trust me… they WORK! I have been successfully posting every Monday & Friday since the beginning of March! So these are tips that I have used to help me stay consistent and not miss a post! yay.
Happy blogging and if you have a blog leave a link below! I’d love to follow you!
